Monthly Archives: February 2013

I would say that in the area of economics I have only ever had three light-bulb moments: perceiving the source of surplus value (Marx); encountering the principle of effective demand (Kalecki, Keynes); and understanding the implications of monetary sovereignty (MMT). Each of these insights had a big impact on me and made sense of a lot of other things all at once.

Living in a country in which 70 percent of print journalists are owned by Rupert Murdoch’s evil empire, and many of the rest someday hope to be, my expectations of the “news” media are low. Even so, it would surprise if the comments sections of the online newspaper editions were quite so policed as the contents of the articles. I would hazard a guess that any reference to MMT or other ideas opposed to the neoliberal orthodoxy that were expressed in a thoughtful and non-abusive manner would not actually be systematically hunted down, deleted, and barred from that point forward. More likely, the idiocy, mean-spiritedness and/or sheer indifference of the typical reader would be regarded protection enough against the possibility of logic, empathy or fact undermining, in even the slightest degree, the neoliberal bipartisan line. Evidently, obtuseness in the typical Bulgarian cannot be so taken for granted. Any coherent challenge to elite aspirations, even in comments, must be stamped out. There must still be a few thinking human beings in that part of the world who might have a light-bulb moment if confronted with truth. Why else would two of the largest mainstream news publications extinguish any reference to Mosler Economics and Modern Monetary Theory?

Liars in prominent positions have made big claims for “contractionary expansion”. We are supposed to believe that if the government cuts back expenditure on education, healthcare and public services, and savages the welfare state, universal prosperity will ensue. Even a child could see this for the dishonest nonsense it is.

The provision of a guaranteed income to every man, woman and child would give each individual a greater degree of independence and enhance real freedom. This would best be accomplished in combination with free universal access to various forms of real income, most notably decent housing, high-quality education, healthcare, and an expanded commons, including free internet access to all available written, musical, televisual and cinematic materials. The guarantee could take the form of a basic income, participation income, broadly defined job guarantee, or some combination (e.g. JIG).

There is an interesting discussion taking place at Mike Norman Economics that touches on tactical aspects of promoting an understanding of modern monetary theory (MMT). I want to comment briefly on a couple of points raised in that discussion. One aspect concerns the value of explaining the basics of economic theory to a wider audience. The other aspect concerns the effectiveness of targeting regular voters rather than leading politicians and policymakers.